Back to Denmark

I got a phone call from my dad the other day saying that my Grandmother has been submitted into hospital. He is a bit unclear on the details, but conveyed to me that I should get back as soon as possible. I am leaving tomorrow morning. I can only imagine that something very bad has happened to my grandmother, as he would know I am in the middle of my FMP... as selfish as it sounds, this could not have come up at a much worse time.

Easter

Our week ended quite peacefully as we had nothing planned for the last few days... and in true student fashion I decided to take a day or two off. Now that those 3 days have gone, I have begun getting all the research together for the first few posters. The first two being war and science.

It has mainly involved me spending quite a lot of time on the internet and looking through some of my old A-level text books, in order to try and get an idea of what best represents these two topics. For example for War it would be using old classics, such as flag raising at Iwo Jima and for work it would probably be some sort of soviet poster and industry cogs. I have begun sketching down the ideas I am going to use as well as stick photographs into a sketchbook for later use. In a few days time I will begin creating the actual posters. Since I have 3 weeks all to myself, now that my flat mates will give me peace a quiet (since they are all off to Germany) I can truly get cracking on my Final Major Project... especially now that all the side projects are out of the way.

Self Promotion Project Response

Today I got some very exciting news. Johann Chan the art editor for Digital Arts magazine. He sent me an email asking if I would be interested in sending them some more of my work to be part of a showcase coming up in one of their new issues. I was ecstatic to receive this news, as I did not expect to get a response for my Self Promo boxes. He also directed me to his twitter account where he had made a post of my box and its content.

I am now rushing to put together some work to send off, it would be fantastic to see my work published in such a large magazine. They have asked for 3 images, a picture of myself and a brief description of who I am and what tools I use. I managed to send this off at about 10 in the evening.

Screenshot of Johann Chan's twitter account frontpage

Guest Speaker - Fig Taylor

Today we had Fig Taylor, a portfolio consultant for the Association of Illustrators come down to visit us.

Fig Taylor (theaoi.com)

Who on a side note looks very similar to British comedian Joe Brand.

Joe Brand (thenorthernecho.co.uk)

This is not entirely relevant, but it struck me as rather comical, especially considering Fig Taylor had a delightful habit of telling funny stories and veering off into colourful French (in other words saying fuck and other such words). More than once during the talk I expected her to begin a comedy routine.

 scans from my notebook

Fig Taylor's talk was very informative, and hilarious, filled with amusing stories and swearing. Giving a lot of insight into the illustration industry, not only in the United Kingdom, but also in the US, EU and Australia. For example that the US and UK markets are a lot more competitive and specialized than the Australia. Subsequently the overall quality seems to be higher in the UK/US than down under. Her main message seemed to be that art directors have gotten lazy these days as the internet has allowed them to pretty much pick and choose any illustrator and style that they want. She also emphasized that the industry is getting tougher and more competitive. This was slightly depressing to hear as she did not exactly paint a pretty picture of what we can expect. She did give us some very good tips on what to do and not do when putting together a portfolio (all of which can be found above in the notebook scans). This is not only relevant to us as we have to use it after uni to get work, but also because as part of our FMP we need to have a portfolio as part of the evaluation.

After Lunch we sat down as a small group to talk with Fig Taylor (it surprised me we were so few, as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity). Below is the range of Images I showed her:

my (at the time) current portfolio

1. A series of commisioned images for a website

2. DVD covers done for SMILE Entertaintment Aps.

3. Sequential Narrative Project (midway here)

4. Illustrations done in 2011

5. Poster done for our 2011 Christmas fundraiser

Fig Taylor's comments when she came to mine was, that the illustration style seemed very modern and that the images were to a high quality. However she did say that the portfolio was a bit too disorganized. For example she said that it was a bit pointless adding in the DVD covers, as they seemed out of place compared to the rest of the work. Overall it has been a good day, and given us the point that for our FMP everything that we put into our degree show needs to be relevant... more or less. But to definitely avoid throwing in random things for absolutely no reason. 

Feedback - Self Promotion

 scan of the week schedule

I feel more or less recovered today and went into uni, and upon getting into the studios I was delighted to hear that my Self Promotional Project had been received by the tutors. I was worried for a second that mine was the mystery package that the tutors were asked to pay delivery for, as mine had not arrived and the package description matched mine. Derek was able to give me some feedback, his main criticism being that the box seemed to be lacking in content. To explain he did enjoy its contents, but the box was deceptively big for its content and might leave the receiver disappointed upon opening it. He did comment that he really enjoyed the design of the box itself, and liked the idea of the badges, as an extra freebie. I will have to keep that in mind next time I make some or if I do any for the degree show.

My tutor Ceri told me that Fig Taylor from the AOI (association of illustrators) would be visiting tomorrow and give a talk to us about going into the industry after graduation. She also told us that there would be signup sessions in which Fig Taylor would look at our work/portfolios and render judgment. Needless to say that this is a golden opportunity, and I spent the night preparing what I have to show her. Mainly cleaning it up a bit in photoshop and making a selection of images.

Recovery and Takashi Murakami

Today I finally feel well enough to function normally... more or less, the voice is still giving my trouble. I was able to post all the remaining Self promotion packets. I was a bit disappointed that I was not able to attend the feedback session held on Friday but oh well...

My course mate Nicole commented (online )that the style of my tin (Side Project - Tin completed) reminded her of Takashi Murakami's work. So I decided to look some of it up, below are some examples of his work:

Takashi Murakami "Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow, Blue and Death" (2010) from gagosian.com

Takashi Murakami "Reversal DNA" (2001) from artnet.com

scan of my own work

At first I did not understand how my friend could have compared my work to his, as I did not really see any similarity, especially in terms of colour. However upon closer inspection I started to see what she meant. I do see a certain likeness in the linework, the variation of negative and filled space, and mostly the variation of thick and thin lines. To be brutally honest although I do like the colour found in Murakami's work and could not find any real source of inspiration for my FMP in his work. On the whole I find his work a bit boring, though imaginative and eyecatching I get bored with the subject quickly. My mind struggles to find a deeper meaning or any sort of interest trick, that being said I do find his Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow, Blue and Death to be visually pleasing. There seems to be no real theme to his work, and although that might have been perfect for me in the past, that is no longer the case, as the FMP has to follow a theme with relevant contents. 

Lost?

Art Directors

Scans from my old PD book,

These names were taken from a number of art magazines I have lying around (such as ImagineFX, and Digital Arts, and a few ones I managed to track down in the library today with the help of my flat mate Sam). Sam was kind enough to go and have a quick look for me, as he knows my style of drawing and in exchange I would look over his dissertation. This was quite lucky for me as I would only have been able to get 2 or 3 art directors by myself with the way I am feeling at the moment. I would quickly glance through the magazines I didn't know such as Magazinet KUNST look on the editors page and get the contact details for their art directors. I do nor really expect to hear back from anyone as there are probably many others doing the same, but you never know. 

Topsy Turvy

Scan from my old PD book

I am unable to even do any research, as my mind cannot even focus on the simplest things.

Sick

Scans from my old PD book.

Self Promotion - Completed

Scan from my old PD book

 

Below is the final product and its and content for my self promotion project.

My self Promotion Project

Two things to note.

- The image of myself contains my contact details on the back, and has had 2 of the edges cut off to make it stand out when stacked in the box.

- I put a self created logo on the outside of the box just to give a better sense of identity and branding.

Unfortunately of all 12 prints, only 8 were successfully completed, the other 4 being either badly printed, or destroyed during folding. Below are the 8 successful products.

 photographs of my kitchen counter and my Self Promotion project

I was planning on writing the addresses on the back side of the boxes before folding them, but forgot to and they proved too weak to support my pen once folded. Instead I wrapped them in brown parcel paper to protect them, and stuck on the address with a white sticker. This may be a bit of blessing in disguise as some of the lids do not close securely and the parcel paper will protect the contents when being posted.

Finally to spruce them up a bit I added a "1/15" drawing on the box to make it seem as if it was part of a series (something Jonny assures us is an old Illustrator trick to make people less likely to throw something away... and make it seem more exclusive). I also added the letters MMXII to the box, which is 2012 in roman numerals, as a little reminder of when it was fabricated, and because it would have looked a little bit blank otherwise. The red band was inspired by a piece of work I saw someone trying to sell in the Bargate Exhibition, and I feel the red is a nice addition to the design. 

Scan from my old PD workbook

I have decided to visit a doctor on Monday, as I am finding it hard to do even simple tasks... such as speech. My voice is almost gone and in the last few days the bouts of dizziness are getting worse. I was hoping it was quick touch of the colds that are going around, but it seems to be something a bit more serious... which is fantastic (sarcasm) as this is the right time for that to happen.

Self Promotion - Making Boxes

Scans from my old PD book

Though the boxes are almost done, I feel rather bad. I do hope I am not going to get any worse. It comes as fits of nausea and dizziness, which has caused me a bit of worry. Though to be honest it might just be food poisoning, something that has happened before from the takeaway shop I was at. Tomorrow I will finish the boxes, compile a list of art directors and post them as soon as possible. Then get back to the FMP research, the plan is to start making the posters once we hit Easter, where I will have most of the research I need and be able to work uninterrupted. So far I am feeling good about the project, though not so good physically.

Guest Speaker - Charles Shearer

Today we had a talk with one of our resident printmakers Charles Shearer.

Photograph of Charles Shearer (displayhca.blogspot.co.uk)

Scan from my old PD book

Charles Shearer - "Bird Box Blue" (www.emmamason.co.uk)

I was able to get my prints from photography, though not only did it cost me and arm and a leg, it took some running about to track down Simon the printer. They came out well, though one of the images was ruined by the printer by ink discolouring... I will keep that one for myself.

Charles talk did hammer home the importance of fully dedicating oneself to ones work. Having known Charles for a number of years, he has explained to me how that when working (or in his case mostly printing) one must show the utmost attention to detail. In so many words Charles conveyed to me that the importance of being a successful illustrator is to fully dedicate oneself to ones work. This is something I will have to remember and do for my FMP.

Once I got home I began doing more research and getting compiling materials for two of my posters, that will be one science and war.

War:

I chose to get an image of the iconic ship Bismarck, in its day one of the worlds most feared and formidable battle ships. This was to get an element of naval warfare in the picture.

www.wrecksite.eu

F-16 - fighter aircraft, one of the worlds most built and used modern jet fighters, built in the 1970s.

A Titan class ICBM missile - the symbol of the superpowers nuclear arsenal. Something that even today plays a role in our psyche as a people.

wikimedia.org

The supremely British Spitfire - need I say more?

flightglobal.com

I also began compiling research for my science poster.

The first thing that sprung to mind was the Bohr atom model, something I felt the need to include
as it is one of the few recent very significant Danish contributions to science.

I then chose to add a steam train, which conveniently I had an old design of lying around from previous work.

my own work

The Hubble Telescope, a satellite sent into space in the 1990 allowing scientist to explore the universe to a greater degree than they previously had. The famous Pillars of Creation photograph (here) was taken with it.

wikipedia.org - Hublle Space Telescope

I copied down some basic physics equations from my old physics text book.

a strand of double helix DNA

 

lejeuneusa.org

I find that doing the research is a very tedious task. One which is not only boring but also something that I feel is slowing down my work significantly. If I could draw as I pleased I would surely be closer to the end by now. Then again the level of drawing would not be as good and the subject matter would be a lot weaker. I do understand the nessecity for the research I just find myself frustrated with the manotomy of doing so.

Self Promotion - Prints and Meetings

So far my Self Promotion Project is going well, my project is coming together and the tutors are happy with my progress. I feel like I am procrastinating with my FMP, but then again we have had a lot of other projects going on, such as the Bargate Exhibition and now the Self Promotion. I am not too worried at this point however, because I know that whatever happens Easter will give me 3 uninterrupted weeks of work. I already know now that I will not return to Denmark to see my family, and instead devote myself to the work on my FMP. The FIFA night was fun, without having played it I still managed to win one match... though that was a far as I got. Nevertheless it was a nice break from university work, where some of us could get together and enjoy ourselves without the topic of university work cropping up.

Self Promotion - Filling a box

Scan from my old PD book.

my design for the box (excuse the bad white cover lines)

I spent a few hours playing around with the design on my computer trying to find the best way to incorporate my old poster on the design on the box. The idea is that I will write down the address of the art directors on the right side on the box above. Then I began working on the contents of the box.

scans from my old PD book, and images from my Self Promotion Project.

Though it took a long time to set up the images in a 1x1 meter format (the size printed in photography) I was happy with the result. I am hoping that I will get the print files sent to photography tomorrow, as the deadline for next week is coming up. At this moment I still need to compile a list of art directors to send my self promotion project to, all I know is that I need to send at least 1 off to Jonny, and as far as I know I need to find at least 9 more. Once I have fabricated the boxes I will look through my art magazines and websites in order to track down some directors. I feel that I might have some advantage because I will be able to send mine to Danish ones instead of just those within the UK and US. I am a bit nervous that this deadline has snuck up on me like this, but as long as I get the prints soon, I am not too worried.

Self Promotion - Designing a box

Today, having no lessons planned (yay) I went to the library to borrow a few books on papercraft.
 I found the following to be helpful, containing templates of boxes and image examples:
      - "Paperwork: the potential of paper in graphic design". By Nancy Williams. 1993
      - "The packaging and design templates sourcebook". By Luke Herriot. 2007

Oddly enough the Luke Herriot book was only available in German at our library (begging the question why we have foreign language books there that are not related to the study of language. Which reminds me finding a Korean magazine when I was writing my dissertation and looking through the magazine archives), but since the book was filled with mainly picture templates instead of text this did not prove to be too troublesome. After some consultation I decided to draw one up for myself... This proved to be a bad idea as I forgot to incorporate a lid.

scan of my old PD book, and cutouts from my first box designs.

  The box design was refined using trial and error, printing and folding them from my own old printer on plain cartridge paper. A messy but fun process, experimenting with size and seeing plain paper turn into 3D. The boxes all came out structurally weak, due to the low quality of paper I was using. I think that if printed on more sturdy art paper from the photography department, this will solve all structure problems... though it will be harder to fold. I need to get the files off for printing soon as photography printing can take as much as a week.

While doing this I watched "SAS - the real story" on Channel 4 (channel 4 - SAS the real story), this was a move for me to try and think of some inspiration for my FMP war poster. I did not get anything of real use, but it was entertaining and made me remember to look for some Vietnam war images. It was a good show, very interesting to see how the SAS has developed from the second world war into the unit it is today.

Self Promotion Start

Scan taken from my old PD book (for a larger image click on the picture)

I spent the day thinking of how to implement my Self Promotion project, resolving to look for papercraft books in order to create the box. It struck me that the idea of making a box seems simple enough, but all the practical elements involved takes a bit of thinking, and where better to do that than in the library. I briefly asked Katherine in the printroom if she could help me, but she said that I was probably better off trying to find some other source of reference. Upon getting home I began looking through my old and new work to select a range of images that will showcase my skills, it did make me realize how my old and crappy work I have lying around... I really should clean my room.